


A Changeling

by WhoCop



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Autistic Character, Bisexual Character, Gay Character, M/M, Period Typical Ableism, thats a headcanon by the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 16:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15976325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoCop/pseuds/WhoCop
Summary: Sometimes people are a little different and other people don't like thatBut those people are jerks





	A Changeling

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Projecting my autism onto fictional characters? More likely than you'd think

"You have to do something soon, or else it'll be to late they won't be willing to take him back anymore." Robot and Whitelaw Reid had been arguing for quite some time.

Whitelaw sighed, "My son was not abducted by faeries, he's just shy."

"No." Robert shook his head," This ain't shy. Shy kids look at you and talk about things other than big machines and gears."

"He has a passion dad! what's so wrong with that?" Whitelaw through his hands in the air.

"It's wrong 'cause he's a Faerie and he ain't meant for this world," Robert answered.

Whitelaw clenched his jaw," There are no faeries dad."

"New York ain't too good for faeries," Robert said, "They're here."

"No!" Whitelaw said, "There are no faeries anywhere."

"If you believe that then that means you created a retard."

Whitelaw took a step closer to his father, "Say one more thing about my son and you will be finding somewhere else to sleep tonight."

They stood staring each other down unblinking until:

"Dada! Dada! Lookit!" Darcy came up to them, beaming and holding out springs from who knows where.

Whitelaw smiled and crouched down to his son's level, "Where did you get these?"

Darcy's face it up, "Ogden."  
\---  
Over the years Darcy's oddness was blamed on a variety of things, but mostly:

"Katherine talks enough for both of you."

And she did. At parties she would smile and introduce herself, Darcy, and Bill, excitedly telling the entire world about her two best friends. She was fiercely protective of her boys, if anyone would say a bad word about either of them Katherine was ready to fight: usually with Bill pulling her away and Darcy on the other side of the room staring. But Katherine couldn't fight everybody.

Darcy came into the party and ran over to give his friends hugs. He squeezed tighter than normal and kept his head and eyes down which was Dany for 'something's wrong.'

Bin poked his chest," Hey, what's wrong?"

Darcy shrugged, "My grandfather's here." He tilted his head back," He doesn't like me. He thinks I'm a faerie and that if my parent couldn't send me back to the faeries then they should have killed me."

"What?" Katharine and Bill said in unison. Equal parts horrified, angry, and heartbroken.

"I said: my grandfather doesn't--"

"No." Bill gently put his hand on Darcy's shoulder, "We heard you. We're just... upset because we love you and that's not okay for your grandfather to be saying. Why-why does he say that?"

"I'm different."

"Everyone's different than everyone use that doesn't mean we should kill them!" Kathrine said.

"I'm extra different. You know that Katherine," Darcy said," I'm not like Jean and Ogden."

"Good," Bill said, "Your brothers are pricks."

"I bit my nails a lot," Darcy said.

"So do I, see?" Kathrine put her fingers up to Darcy's eyes.

He smiled slightly, "I don't talk very much at home. Besides about machines."

"I don't talk much either," Bill said, "and the fact you know so much about machines will be great when you become an engineer."

Darcy signed, "Okay, okay. I get it"

"Good." Bill stood on his toes to ruffle Darcy's hair." The only thing I don't like about you is that you're too tall."

Darcy laughed. "You've too short."

As they joked and played around Robert Reid came over to the trio. "And who are you two?"

"There's three of us here," Bill said, enough people overlooked Darcy as the 3rd child and not as a heir. Bill refused to allow his best friend to be ignored.

"That's my grandfather," Darcy said, head back down," He knows who I am he doesn't know you or Kath."

Katharine's rage increased immediately, "I'm Katherine Pulitzer and--."

"I'm William Randolph Hearst Junior nice to meet you sir." Bill looked at Katherine out of the corner of his eye warning her.

"How did you come to befriend..." He gestured at Darcy with his walking stick, "that?"

Bill took a deep breath to keep himself from strangling the man, "We've been going to parties together our whole lives. He's the greatest guy I know."

Darcy’s grandfather scoffed, “Come on Darcy, we’re leaving.”

Darcy hung his head and hugged his friends goodbye.   
\---  
Years later Darcy was still somewhat self-conscious about his oddities, but with friends like Katherine and Bill who had time to dwell on it. They kept him busy enough to be distracted from most of the anxiety that came along with it, always knowing what to say to make him smile. It took no convincing by Katherine to enlist the boys to join the newsboy strike, and then, a little over a year late the boys were happily engaging in illegal activities together, everything was better. 

But, no matter how good the days seem, darkness can always lurk around a corner. Bad days were not rare, but not frequent either, just often enough not to forget that they occured. 

Bill was the greatest comfort Darcy could have on days like these, days where everything was too much, too much pressure, or he doubted himself in any capacity. Bill was there to hold him tight and tell him how amazing he was and how much he loved him. And that’s all he needed to get back to his regular self, the smart young engineer he was.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys know that a lot of people believe that the stories about 'changeling children' were probably just autistic kids? Yeah that's cool and it 100% inspired this fic  
> Here's a post about it if you're a nerd like me and interested in it:  
> http://whocop.tumblr.com/post/151562070549/deducecanoe-necromin-memelordrevan


End file.
